EK verbal and audio osmosis

[odependent]

I tried TPRs strategy for verbal, and its not working. I have heard a lot of good thing about EKs verbal strategy. I listened to their verbal on AO, but the only thing I got from that was: MAIN IDEA. I was planning on buying the verbal book from EK. How much additional (more detail) is the EK verbal and math book compared to AO.

Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[drpatelplasticsurgery]

i got a 12 on the recent April '06 MCAT following EK's strategy.

the Audio Osmosis advice is golden, but it's only 20 min. i recommend playing it over and over and over and over again until you have that script of theirs memorized. it helps to have those buzz words in your head as you're doing a practice test, and later on, the real thing.

absolutely purchase the EK Verbal Test book! space out the 11 full-length verbals over the last month or two leading up to the MCAT. do the passages in order, try your hardest to finish every question, and don't go too crazy marking up your book with your pencil.

TPR's strategy of skipping a passage is dangerous, and arguably a result of their marketing, as EK suggests. in any case, marking up your passage with notes is not as useful as critically reading WITH YOUR EYES and keeping your MENTAL notes in your HEAD. a passage is over and done with in 9 min - do you really need to write notes down for something you can forget completely in 9 MINUTES??

verbal was my demon (got an 8 in 2004) - but by prepping from Nov '05 to April '06, i was able to go up from a diagnostic score of 9 to a real score of 12. that's 3 points over 6 months. it takes WEEKS to improve a single solitary point. do verbal at least every other day (i.e., if not a full-length, then at least 3 passages, TIMED STRICTLY; i recommend 9 min/passage) and i think you'll be on track.

 

[stiffany]

i got a 12 on the recent April '06 MCAT following EK's strategy.

the Audio Osmosis advice is golden, but it's only 20 min. i recommend playing it over and over and over and over again until you have that script of theirs memorized. it helps to have those buzz words in your head as you're doing a practice test, and later on, the real thing.

absolutely purchase the EK Verbal Test book! space out the 11 full-length verbals over the last month or two leading up to the MCAT. do the passages in order, try your hardest to finish every question, and don't go too crazy marking up your book with your pencil.

TPR's strategy of skipping a passage is dangerous, and arguably a result of their marketing, as EK suggests. in any case, marking up your passage with notes is not as useful as critically reading WITH YOUR EYES and keeping your MENTAL notes in your HEAD. a passage is over and done with in 9 min - do you really need to write notes down for something you can forget completely in 9 MINUTES??

verbal was my demon (got an 8 in 2004) - but by prepping from Nov '05 to April '06, i was able to go up from a diagnostic score of 9 to a real score of 12. that's 3 points over 6 months. it takes WEEKS to improve a single solitary point. do verbal at least every other day (i.e., if not a full-length, then at least 3 passages, TIMED STRICTLY; i recommend 9 min/passage) and i think you'll be on track.

All good advice. The AO discussion of verbal is basically crap in my mind. Sure, it gives you some strategies, but if you don't practice using them, it'll never work. Work through the EK 101 VR passages book one by one. Start out by not timing yourself for the first few tests/groups of passages you do. Then, once you're done, look at all of the answers (not just for the questions you missed, but also for those you got right) and try to understand where the test writer is coming from. Then, once you get more comfortable with the passages and questions in general, start worrying about timing. If you don't have a way to understand the passages regardless of your time limit, time isn't your problem. So, tackle comprehension and finding a personal strategy first and timing second (at least in my opinion).

 

[odependent]

I already have EK 101. I was asking if I should buy Ek Verbal and math book. In AO they never talked about doing 3 passages for 30minutes... as people were talking about in other threads. So the question is:
- Should I buy EK verbal and math book.

 

[odependent]

bump

 

[drpatelplasticsurgery]

short answer: NO.

I already have EK 101. I was asking if I should buy Ek Verbal and math book. In AO they never talked about doing 3 passages for 30minutes... as people were talking about in other threads. So the question is:
- Should I buy EK verbal and math book.

 

[ADeadLois]

I already have EK 101. I was asking if I should buy Ek Verbal and math book. In AO they never talked about doing 3 passages for 30minutes... as people were talking about in other threads. So the question is:
- Should I buy EK verbal and math book.

You could probably get the AO verbal and math book for $5 used on Amazon, so go for it. There isn't that much more info in than on AO, but it has some useful exercises (particularly the one about gleaning info from the question stems) so it might be worth checking out.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, EK 101 Verbal Passages is the best piece of MCAT prep material available. Everyone studying for the MCAT must take it. I went up from a 6 on my diagnostic to 12 on the real thing.

 

[UofT_475]

i got a 12 on the recent April '06 MCAT following EK's strategy.

the Audio Osmosis advice is golden, but it's only 20 min. i recommend playing it over and over and over and over again until you have that script of theirs memorized. it helps to have those buzz words in your head as you're doing a practice test, and later on, the real thing.

absolutely purchase the EK Verbal Test book! space out the 11 full-length verbals over the last month or two leading up to the MCAT. do the passages in order, try your hardest to finish every question, and don't go too crazy marking up your book with your pencil.

TPR's strategy of skipping a passage is dangerous, and arguably a result of their marketing, as EK suggests. in any case, marking up your passage with notes is not as useful as critically reading WITH YOUR EYES and keeping your MENTAL notes in your HEAD. a passage is over and done with in 9 min - do you really need to write notes down for something you can forget completely in 9 MINUTES??

verbal was my demon (got an 8 in 2004) - but by prepping from Nov '05 to April '06, i was able to go up from a diagnostic score of 9 to a real score of 12. that's 3 points over 6 months. it takes WEEKS to improve a single solitary point. do verbal at least every other day (i.e., if not a full-length, then at least 3 passages, TIMED STRICTLY; i recommend 9 min/passage) and i think you'll be on track.

Hey, Can I ask how extensively you prepared for the MCAT? Like 6-8 or 10 hours a day of studying?

 

[UofT_475]

You could probably get the AO verbal and math book for $5 used on Amazon, so go for it. There isn't that much more info in than on AO, but it has some useful exercises (particularly the one about gleaning info from the question stems) so it might be worth checking out.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, EK 101 Verbal Passages is the best piece of MCAT prep material available. Everyone studying for the MCAT must take it. I went up from a 6 on my diagnostic to 12 on the real thing.

I just ordered the book. 2 months to go!

Can I ask you the same Q, How man y hours a day did you study for the MCAT? I'm trying to tank at least 8 a day to nail physics and VR. My VR isn't weak, but gotta do well!

 

[Caristra]

I already have EK 101. I was asking if I should buy Ek Verbal and math book. In AO they never talked about doing 3 passages for 30minutes... as people were talking about in other threads. So the question is:
- Should I buy EK verbal and math book.

No. the advice in hte book is essentially what is said on AO plus more warnings about listening to them and why other advice is bad. The math tips are nice, but if you are doing well in your PS practice you don't need those tips. My advice would be to spend hte money on more practice verbal questions.

 

[schoi401]

i got a 12 on the recent April '06 MCAT following EK's strategy.

the Audio Osmosis advice is golden, but it's only 20 min. i recommend playing it over and over and over and over again until you have that script of theirs memorized. it helps to have those buzz words in your head as you're doing a practice test, and later on, the real thing.

absolutely purchase the EK Verbal Test book! space out the 11 full-length verbals over the last month or two leading up to the MCAT. do the passages in order, try your hardest to finish every question, and don't go too crazy marking up your book with your pencil.

TPR's strategy of skipping a passage is dangerous, and arguably a result of their marketing, as EK suggests. in any case, marking up your passage with notes is not as useful as critically reading WITH YOUR EYES and keeping your MENTAL notes in your HEAD. a passage is over and done with in 9 min - do you really need to write notes down for something you can forget completely in 9 MINUTES??

verbal was my demon (got an 8 in 2004) - but by prepping from Nov '05 to April '06, i was able to go up from a diagnostic score of 9 to a real score of 12. that's 3 points over 6 months. it takes WEEKS to improve a single solitary point. do verbal at least every other day (i.e., if not a full-length, then at least 3 passages, TIMED STRICTLY; i recommend 9 min/passage) and i think you'll be on track.

This sounds extremely encouraging. I seem to know how to study science sections but verbal was always troublesome. Many strategies were suggested, tried, and miserably failed. I didn't believe in them in the first place. Given my ESL background, I had a tough time believing in those strats targeted for native speakers. So there was a confidence issue as well. But this, I think, has to work. Tx for the info mdlaw!

 

[drpatelplasticsurgery]

i had a good foundation of general chemistry, non-calculus-based physics, and biology (have an M.S. degree) already, on top of having taken the MCAT twice before, getting a 30 (in April '04 i had 11s in both science sections). organic chemistry (failed 2nd semester and had to retake in 1998) and verbal (had a 10 in August '98, an 08 in April '04) were liabilities, but with orgo being deemphasized and blended into more biochem, and verbal being trainable, i was able to mitigate any damage those two areas could do.

so to answer your question, at least on this 3rd attempt (39S = 12 VR, 13 PS, 14 BS), nope, i didn't put in the hours you think i put in.

i'd say on an average day i put in 2-3 hours of studying. but i started in November 2005 and did this all the way 'til test day on April 22nd this year (except for the last week, i chilled a whole lot).

if you factor in practice test time and class time with TPR, i guess it ends up being a higher average time spent per day "studying." i mean, starting in February i did a test every Saturday, so that was 8 hrs right there, excluding the 2-4 hours grading and reviewing it. and Sundays were when i had TPR class, and that ran from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. so that was a regular 6 hours of "studying" on Sundays.

i would say that studying hard means that you study smart. i did absolutely everything in TPR's syllabus, even if i knew it cold already, because you can always pick up a nuance or two that makes your understanding that much better. i also didn't skip a single class - again, each Sunday i would pick up a nugget or two of golden information that often ended up invaluable come test day.

only reading i did was to go over TPR's science review books once over, then to go over spots where i found out i hadn't understood things very well. the bulk of any reading i did, beyond actually doing practice tests and passages, was GOING OVER THE ANSWER KEY. you can't believe how many times i got a question right on the WRONG BASIS. you can be amazed at how lucky you can be sometimes. you want to minimize it so that even on Verbal, your "luck" really ends up being excellent intuition as to which answer is likely the correct one. for VR, i know, it's touchy feely crap, but that's the only way to roll with it.

including TPR's diagnostics and proctored AAMCs, i did a total of 11 full-length exams from November through April. the vast majority were done EACH and EVERY saturday starting in February. i think this was crucial to developing the rhythm and comfort you need to rock this stupid test.

if you're gonna factor in previous MCAT study time, which definitely got me at a comfortable "30" level, then yeah, i put in a $hitload of studytime. if you're just factoring in the studying i did for this attempt, then i would say that i put in a few hours a day on average, spread out over 6 months.

if you're an August dude, yeah, in two months time, to do what i did, you're gonna have to do some serious work, no matter if you're starting at a 16 or at a 32 and want to get a great score. but i'll tell ya, reinforcement happens when you also have downtime, and going out like gangbusters and putting in the hours you think you'll need to put in can end up being counterproductive. E.g., experts and research articles say all the time that folks need 8 hrs of sleep, and premed students never believe it - i totally believe it now. sleep often can do more good than that extra couple hours of studying could ever do.

also, i'm a pretty smart guy, and i pick up quick. i was out to prove something with this April '06 MCAT, and i did it. some folks need more time to grasp things, others need less. this whole thing's so subjective you have to take what i say with massive grains of salt.

Hey, Can I ask how extensively you prepared for the MCAT? Like 6-8 or 10 hours a day of studying?

 

[ADeadLois]

I just ordered the book. 2 months to go!

Can I ask you the same Q, How man y hours a day did you study for the MCAT? I'm trying to tank at least 8 a day to nail physics and VR. My VR isn't weak, but gotta do well!

8 hours is excessive. I studied 1-2 hours a day for 4 months. 75% of your verbal studying should doing practice tests (hopefully from EK 101), and 25% should be going over these tests (right and wrong answers).